| Popis: |
Chapter 6 discusses how far Shakespeare’s plays reflect the views of his age—that marriage is less a romantic and sexual bond than a partnership based on “friendship or ‘amity’. This Protestant paradigm of ‘companionate’ marriage remains in tension with the older patriarchal model of marriage in which the husband is ‘head’ of his wife. A Comedy of Errors explores the conflict between the two paradigms, with the bold wife Adriana arguing for equality between intimate marital partners while Luciana takes the traditional view that a wife should subject her ‘will’ (her sexuality and self-determination) to that of her husband. The Taming of the Shrew also questions whether wilful Kate can retain any independence as a wife. The chapter ends by suggesting how in Antony and Cleopatra the lovers—Cleopatra calls Antony ‘husband’ by the play’s conclusion—enact a new paradigm of marriage. By bending conventional gender roles, this androgynous pair escapes patriarchal assumptions of male mastery, balancing libido (‘will’) with romantic love that extends beyond death. |
